Jennifer Caplan, “Funny, You Don’t Look Funny: Jews, Comedy, and Gender”

Faye Greenberg Sigman “Woman of Valor” Lecture 

Golda Meir Library, 4th Floor or via Zoom (Register at https://bit.ly/3VmLcxE)

This talk examines trends in the way Jewish institutions have typically “counted” Jewish engagement in the late 20th and 21st centuries and uses those trends to argue that American Judaism looks healthier and more robust if we think differently about engagement. Humor, it turns out, is not only a valid way to approach this revisioning, but also one of the best ways to highlight positive trends in American Jewish identification. Rather than relying on older “continuity-based” models of what Judaism needs to do to survive that put disproportionate pressure (and blame) on Jewish women, acontemporary Jewish humor reimagines many aspects of Jewish life—including Jewish gender tropes—and offers younger generations a vision of Jewishness they want to embrace.

Jennifer Caplan is The Jewish Foundation Chair of Cincinnati Chair in Judaic Studies at University of Cincinnati. She is the author of Funny, You Don’t Look Funny: Judaism and Comedy from the Silent Generation to Millennials (2023) and co-editor of Wit Happens: Global Jewish Humor (2026). She publishes broadly on Judaism and popular culture with a focus on gender and representation and is currently working on Unmasked: Jewish Characters in DC and Marvel.

Made by possible by the generosity of the Taxman and Temkin families.
Cosponsored by UWM’s Departments of English and Women’s and Gender Studies.